Page 7 of The Alien's Major Dilemma

“We must be unusually compatible,” Cooper told her. “It usually takes months for that kind of bond to form. I didn’t realize it was already there or I would have warned you about it.”

“What kind of bond?” she asked. “How did you do that?”

“I didn’t do anything,” he said. “When you triggered my secondary maturation, my brain started to bond with yours. If you’d disliked me as much as I thought you did, you wouldhave fought the bond, and we wouldn’t now be sharing physical discomfort like this.”

“Secondary maturation? Are you saying this is some kind of psychic link because you, what, started puberty over again?”

Cooper sighed. “It’s complicated and I can explain it better when we get to my ship. If you can be patient that long, we’ll be there soon and I can help with your head. Deal?”

“Deal.”

He held out a hand to help her stand up and clamped down on the wave of dizziness that threatened to make him lose what little he’d eaten that day. “Can you walk?”

Marissa nodded then stilled. “I think I might have a concussion.”

“You might,” he allowed. “That was an excellent elbow-strike. But I think it’s mostly that you’re badly shielded and feeling some of my discomfort. I don’t know why, but it’s always the unpleasant physical stuff that’s shared first.”

“You’re going to explain that when we’re somewhere cool and dark,” she told him and he nodded.

“I’ll explain it whenever you’d like.”

He kept their pace slow and steady as they walked back to the truck and he couldn’t help but enjoy the way she held onto him. He wished it was for something besides the fact that she’d injured herself on his head, but he’d take what he could get for the moment.

Marissa screwed her face up before she sat in the passenger seat and the effort it took to get comfortable was palpable. Once she was buckled in, he draped the stasis blanket so it covered her chest and legs but it hung loose at the sides. That would keep her still and hopefully help with the pain, but left her arms and head loose.

The look she gave him when she realized she couldn’t move without effort made him grin.

“Comfortable?” he asked when he climbed into the driver’s seat.

The sound the engine made when he started it made him grit his teeth. They were long past the point of the fuel running out and he was going to be lucky if he didn’t burn out the engine before they reached his ship. As much as the additive stretched the fuel, it had its limits.

“Asshole,” she said through clenched teeth.

He nodded. “Yep, got it in one. Need to vomit?”

She swallowed and shook her head. “Not so far, no.”

“Good. We should be there soon so keep that up. No vomiting in the borrowed truck.”

“Stolen.”

“I’ll give it back. Eventually.”

“You know there’s tracking stuff all over this, right? And I had my cellphone on me. They’ll be able to track that, too.”

“No cellphone towers out here,” he said. “And I disabled the GPS before I borrowed the truck. Well, for definitions of disabled. It’s not in the truck anymore, so I figure that counts.”

She grumbled under her breath, and he grinned at her again.

“Do you want to know where I put it?”

He could tell she was torn between annoyance and curiosity. Eventually, curiosity won out and she rolled her eyes. “Alright, you obviously want to tell me, so where did you put it?”

“In the crate next to the one hiding the contraband cigarettes and alcohol. Not with them, that wouldn’t be sporting, but the one right next to them.”

Marissa laughed. “Yep, you’re definitely an asshole. Was it an empty crate, at least?”

“Nope!” he said and giggled. “That was the one with the Base Commander’s golf clubs. The ones that weren’t included in the allotted space for personal effects.”

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